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‘Braising’ Pasta, a la Harold McGee

By Mark Bittman March 13, 2009 2:41 pmMarch 13, 2009 2:41 pm

Mark Bittman“Braised” pasta, inspired by Harold McGee, a k a the Curious Cook.

I got to Paris, where Kelly will be working for the next few weeks, at 5 a.m. after — needless to say — a nearly sleepless night and a non-existent dinner and breakfast. (I did have some better-than-decent pork ‘n’ beans before I left the house, but that was at 3 p.m.)

After sleeping for three hours I awoke to a dreary and barely equipped kitchen. There were, however, a half box of pasta (whole wheat, Barilla), some olive oil (Maille, not too bad), two tomatoes (purchased by Kelly, who got here earlier) and . . . dried morels, from my suitcase. Ha! I decided to “braise” the pasta (isn’t that what it is?) a la Harold McGee.

I used about the amount of water I thought the pasta would “drink” (I wound up adding a little more), threw in the morels, the tomatoes, and a splash of oil, and cooked the thing until I had — well, braised pasta.

Nice dish: soupy, moist, tasty, a little thick from the pasta starch. Especially valuable, since there was no colander.

One of my favorite one-pot dishes is one in which pasta is braised in broth. Saute some onion/shallot. Add pasta and broth. Simmer until pasta is nearly done. Scatter fresh vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, leafy greens…) over pasta. Cover and simmer until pasta and vegetables are done. Stir in some fresh cheese if you like.

In the end, you have pasta and fresh veg with a wonderfully flavorful sauce and minimal cleanup.

This is a terrible story! What arrondissement are you staying in? Next time you visit Paris go to Le Figaro or anywhere and look up places which are open virtually 24-hours a day. Some even have decent food (most not, bien sûr). This kind of meal is the equivalent of my visiting Minneapolis and deciding to eat a Starbucks’ croissant at 5:00 AM. Vous êtes à Paris, for goodness sakes!

When you cook rice in just enough liquid so that it is almost all absorbed during the cooking process, do you refer to it as “braised”? I always think of that term as referring to a process in which the main ingredient is first browned in some fat, then cooked over a small amount of liquid (sitting on top of a mirepoix). Isn’t this just boiled pasta — albeit boiled in a lot less liquid than is traditionally used?

Yes, making pasta like that is very good. I have made pasta like that for a while, after learning how to make risotto and realizing pasta can be done the same way. Chicken stock is very flavorful with this, and thicker pastas like the bowtie that is pictured work better, I think. If you want it a little dryer, throw in some rice, and the dish will be done when the rice is. I also usually keep the lid on the pot, because I like there to be almost no liquid left when it is done, and if I didn’t it would all boil away otherwise, and also because the lid keeps in the heat and allows you to simmer on very low heat.

Maybe you could forward what I’m about to tell to Harold McGee as well. In Turkey, traditionally we cook pasta in its own sauce, letting it suck up all the water in the pot, as if it were pilaf. Well we add whatever we like to the boiling water, generally ranging from tomato paste to various types of vegetables, meats (cured or otherwise), white cheese and so on. Then you throw in some herbs and spices and simmer until the pasta drinks up all the juice ending up as a dish with a thick, rich sauce. So, what do you think about that?

Help. I made your brown rice pudding from Food Matters, and the rice never cooked. I followed the recipe: 45 min, stir. 45 min, stir. 30 min, stir. Then I kept checking every 10 minutes for the next 30.

The pudding was firming up, but the grains of rice were skinny slivers of white, very hard and gritty. It’s like the brown cooked off and left the skeleton

I agree with Jim, le Figero, or La Coupole, an after the opera dinner offering…anything but what you would eat as a “poor mans dinner”…is the economy so bad that we’re reduced to going to Paris and eating gruel? Starve yourself and eat a chocolat croissant with cafe au lait. Then walk.

Un -related to Pasta – Back to no-knead bread ) Didn’t know how to post to general blog.

I was wondering if you have heard of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois? Its the ultimate no knead bread – really. All you do is stir together the ingredients, let it sit for 2 hours then you either bake it or keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Its awesome, you can make tons of different kinds of loaves whatever size you want. Its ideal for those who live alone and can’t finish a whole loaf but want fresh bread -just pull out enough for a bun. It even freezes. It makes everything from baguettes to naan to cinniman rolls. I went to a class with Chef Zoe and it was great – they have also been featured on the Splendid Table. Check them out if you haven’t: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/.

Recently, I was about to make paella when I realized I had no appropriate rice, so I used orzo, adding liquid and stirring often. We liked it, and now, thanks to Harold McGee’s site, curiouscook.com, I discovered that what I did wasn’t a paella abomination but rather a dish, “The Valencian dish fideuà is a version of paella made with pasta instead of rice.” I feel much better now.

Geez it’s ok to eat pork and beans whenever you want, and betting the number of times MB has been in Paris, he doesn’t know where to go to eat at any time of the day or night if he feels like it?

What he made reminded me of Ramen with vegs. Simple. Noodles in 2 cups of boiling water + vegs. Japanese not Italian. You just don’t think of the processes crossing over when making pasta instead of ramen/soba/udon.

I am Italian living in Turkey but have been cooking Pasta like you did from time to time for many, many years and it always works so well. It is a real creative process.
Forget the croissant.
Like if you are in Paris you have to eat croissants. Oy veh!

That sounds a bit like a “pastasotto”. They have been quite popular in France, judging from foodblogs, for a few years. You don’t even need to add some sauce when cooking pasta this way: the gluten (I suppose) binds the water and covers the pasta with a silky film.

Regarding the VB6 aberration: I’m guessing the remainder of Mark’s day was vegan – I believe he mentioned taking fruit and nuts on planes when he listed his meals previously. If not, who cares?! It’s not “sneakily mentioning” it when it’s something one generally adheres to, and we’re not Mark’s food police.

Mark, thank you for posting and reminding me to try this method! I just cooked up a quick puttanesca and added it to my braised whole wheat penne. It’s lovely and quite satisfying – I always forget to reserve some pasta water to get that fantastic flavor meld and this does it for you!